Ryan Coogler is "incredibly attached" to the character of Black Panther.
Ryan Coogler
The 31-year-old filmmaker has helmed the new Marvel Cinematic Universe starring Chadwick Boseman as the titular character with the movie based around the first ever black superhero in mainstream American comics.
Coogler - who is best known for helming Rocky spin-off 'Creed' - admits the challenges of the film were like nothing he'd encountered before but he enjoyed every aspect of the process and now feels a huge amount of loyalty and affection to the hero.
Speaking to Deadline, Coogler said: "He's so different from what I am used to. But through the process of making the film and working with Chad and trying to explore and find ownership in it, I'm incredibly attached to this character now. In our film, you find him at a time where he lost his father, the most important person in his life. He's inheriting this incredible responsibility.
"He's inheriting it at a time when Wakanda is struggling what its identity might be and the people have different ideas of what they should do. He's incredibly conflicted but is aware of his responsibility of what to do."
T'Challa aka Black Panther was created by legendary Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee and the equally iconic artist-and-writer Jack Kirby and first appeared in 'Fantastic Four #52' back in 1966.
The motion picture is expected to expand on the storyline that was first introduced in 'Captain America: Civil War' of how T'Challa becomes the superhero.
T'Challa's father T'Chaka is king of the African nation Wakanda and has the ceremonial title Black Panther as the chief of the Panther Tribe, but is killed when a bomb goes off at the UN making his son the Black Panther.
Other actors in the movie include Forest Whitaker, who will take on the role of Zuri, an elder statesman in Wakanda, and 'The Walking Dead' star Danai Gurira - who is to portray Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje, the Black Panther's personal bodyguards.
Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis are both set to reprise their roles as Everett K. Ross and Ulysses Klaue respectively in the new film.
The movie is slated for release in February 2018.
Tagged in Stan Lee Ryan Coogler Chadwick Boseman